


A Small Compromise

by MissMokushiroku



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Community: trope_bingo, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Fluff, Sharing a Bed, Spooning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-07
Updated: 2013-08-07
Packaged: 2017-12-22 16:50:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/915636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissMokushiroku/pseuds/MissMokushiroku
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shepard and Thane's first night together didn't work out quite as well as they had hoped.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Small Compromise

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written for my "sharing a bed" square for [trope_bingo round two.](http://trope-bingo.dreamwidth.org)

Sometimes, in the course of a relationship, a person must make sacrifices. 

Shepard didn't realize just how many sacrifices she would have to make just so she could sleep next to her lover in the captain's quarters.

With her previous partners, it had been simple—just decide what side of the bed they'd be on, or who would be big spoon and little spoon, and things were pretty much settled.

But it was different with Thane.

Shepard loved Thane, she really did—but as she lay on the bed, sweaty, unable to sleep, and with rashes forming on her arms, she had to curse whichever cruel spirits in the galaxy let her fall in love with a goddamned _alien_.

She laid on her side, facing her aquarium, with Thane behind her, his arms wrapped around her in a firm embrace. It was enjoyable, for a time, if she ignored how uncomfortably hot the room was, or how the dryness of the air made her nose itch. She could feel his warm breath on her neck, which was nice at first, until she realized that he was really making her problem worse, and she couldn't just ask him to _stop breathing on her_.

Shepard and Thane had been “sleeping” for three hours, Shepard had gotten no actual sleep during that time, and it seemed that her luck was unlikely to improve anytime soon. She was shifting positions, trying and failing to find one that was even just a little more comfortable while trying not to disturb Thane.

“Siha.” Did she wake him up, she wondered? His voice was slow and drowsy. Regardless, even if he was the cause of her current discomfort, she smiled at the sound of his low, gravelly voice, a voice entirely at home in the night. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing,” she lied.

“Are you sure?”

 _...Dammit._ “It's like a desert in here, Thane. I can't sleep.”

He moved his arms out of her way and sat up. She stood up and he could see just how much the room's atmosphere affected her: sweat covered her body, soaking her tank top and shorts and matting her hair to her forehead.

“I'm taking a shower, Thane. A cold shower.”

“I'm sorry, siha. I didn't know I would be inconveniencing—”

“No, no, Thane, you're not inconveniencing me,” she interrupted, not adding on _because we're still three days away from the nearest mass relay._ “We can...we can work this out.” She slicked back her hair away from her face. “I just need to clean myself off. Right now I feel like I just took off my armor. Except I'm not covered in blood.”

“Yes...waking up in blood would be inconvenient.”

“No kidding.” She walked towards the bathroom, turning before she went in. “I'll be back.”

When the cold water began to hit her body—Shepard just couldn't describe the feeling. The closest analogy she could come up with was “like a waterfall on Noveria, but without the potential for frostbite.” Regardless, it was glorious to her. She brainstormed ways to make herself more comfortable in her quarters without making Thane uncomfortable, because, really, wouldn't that be just as bad? And she _wanted_ to spend nights with Thane, just...not like this.

When she re-entered the bedroom, Thane was waiting for her. She wasn't expecting him to leave, no, but he was a comforting sight.

“You did this for me,” he said, not quite in an accusatory tone.

“I did.”

“You didn't have to.”

“I didn't want to make you uncomfortable. Or...” She looked down, her voice soft. “Worse.”

Shepard couldn't quite place the expression on Thane's face. “You're overreacting, siha. I'm not nearly as fragile as you seem to think I am.”

“I've seen you in combat, Thane. I know you're not fragile.” She looked at Thane, then the ceiling, unsure of herself. “EDI, lower the temperature by three degrees.”

“Understood, Commander.”

“Are you sure you'll be fine with that?” Thane asked.

“I guess we'll just have to see.” Shepard smiled. “Now, move over. I'm going to be big spoon.”

“You...what?”

“Just relax.” She pushed herself behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist. “Let's try this again.”


End file.
